Write Your First HTTP Cookie

Cookies are set by the browser, often with a CGI or JavaScript. You can write a script to set a cookie at any event on a Web page. For example, if you go to this page you will be given the option to set a cookie when you click another link. The cookie looks something like this:

Set-Cookie: Count=1; expires=Wednesday, 01-Aug-2040 08:00:00 GMT; path=/; domain=webdesign.about.com

This means:

• Set-Cookie:
  • This is the call that set's the cookie in the browser's cookie store.
• Count=1;
  • This is the name of your cookie.
• expires=Wednesday, 01-Aug-2040 08:00:00 GMT;
  • This details when the cookie will expire.
• path=/;
  • This is the minimum path that needs to exist for the cookie to be returned.
• webdesign.about.com
  • The domain that set the cookie, and is the only domain that can retrieve the cookie.

Use the following code to write your cookie:

<script language="JavaScript">

 cookie_name = "Basic_Cookie";

 function write_cookie() {

 if(document.cookie) {

 index = document.cookie.indexOf(cookie_name);

 } else {

 index = -1;

 }

 if (index == -1) {

 document.cookie=cookie_name+"=1; expires=Wednesday, 01-Aug-2040 08:00:00 GMT";

 } else {

 countbegin = (document.cookie.indexOf("=", index) + 1);

 countend = document.cookie.indexOf(";", index);

 if (countend == -1) {

 countend = document.cookie.length;

 }

 count = eval(document.cookie.substring(countbegin, countend)) + 1;

 document.cookie=cookie_name+"="+count+"; expires=Wednesday, 01-Aug-2040 08:00:00 GMT";

 }

 }

 </script>

Once you've written the cookie, you need to read it in order to use it. Use this script to read your cookie:

<script language="JavaScript">

 function gettimes() {

 if(document.cookie) {

 index = document.cookie.indexOf(cookie_name);

 if (index != -1) {

 countbegin = (document.cookie.indexOf("=", index) + 1);

 countend = document.cookie.indexOf(";", index);

 if (countend == -1) {

 countend = document.cookie.length;

 }

 count = document.cookie.substring(countbegin, countend);

 if (count == 1) {

 return (count+" time");

 } else {

 return (count+" times");

 }

 }

 }

 return ("0 times");

 }

 </script>

Set your cookie when someone clicks a link with this code in your HTML body:

<script language="javascript">document.write(gettimes());</script>